Revenge of the Banshee
by dxoverdt
Summary: After Jake accidentally breaks Huntsgirl’s spear and releases a terrible horror onto the world, the AmDrag and Huntsgirl have to work together to capture the Banshee before it’s too late. [JakexRose] Takes place before Ski Trip.
1. Your staff is made of what?

Summary: Jake is on a crusade to strengthen his relationship with Rose, or at least establish one with her. Meanwhile tensions between the American Dragon and Huntsgirl heighten when a misfortunate event forces them to become allies in the battle field.

Author's Note: So I started watching season 2 episodes from iTunes, and suddenly my desire to write AD:JL fiction was rekindled. I wrote this fic because I really enjoyed the tension between the American Dragon and Huntsgirl and I wish there was more of it. This fic takes place before Jake finds out Rose is Huntsgirl in the first season episode Ski Trip. This fic is unbetaed, so please excuse any grammar fouls.

Disclaimer: I do not own AD:JL nor any of the characters affiliated with the show. This work of fiction is for fan enjoyment only.

On with the fic!

000

"End of the line dragon!" And it literally was. Jake stood teetering on the edge of a construction beam with a murder of harpies above him and a pack of angry wolves below, snarling and salivating so fiercely leaving Jake to scratch his head and wonder how he had managed to piss them off so badly. It certainly didn't help that the pointy end of a Huntsclan spear was inches away from his throat. Welcome to sucks-ville. Population: the American Dragon.

"Hey, come on baby, can't we work something out?" Of course, Jake being his cavalier self, was trying to sweet talk his way out of the situation. She wasn't buying it.

"I don't make deals with worthless scum."

"Ouch baby, you're killing me," He whined while charading the movements of stabbing himself in the heart and twisting the blade.

"That's kinda the point, dragon,"

Suddenly the spear seemed a lot closer than it was a few seconds ago. Jake needed a plan, and fast, before he became a dragon seekh kabab.

"So what's this thing made out of?" Jake asked, while causally pushing the weapon away with the tip of his claw. "Unicorn horn? Mermaid scales? Maybe a pinch of centaur hoof?"

"Quit stalling, dragon. You wouldn't understand what this thing is made of even if I explained it to you as if you were a two year old," she chuckled at her clever joke. "Don't even think about escaping. I've got you right where I want you, and the Huntsclan will be here any min-"

Her mistake. She took her eyes off of him for only a millisecond, but it was all Jake need to execute his plan. Claw still on her spear, he grasped it quickly, and in one fluid motion pulled the weapon away and swept her feet out from under her with a swift snap of his tail. But the snap was too swift, and Huntsgirl lost her balance, falling off the beam and hurdling towards the barking jaws of the wolves below.

"Awww, man," Jake groaned. Huntsgirl turning into dog food was not part of the plan. Sucking in a deep breath he jumped off the beam after her.

"Yo Hunts-tard!" he shouted down at her mockingly, "Didn't they ever teach you in evil school that gloating with a villainous monologue never ends well for the bad guy?"

"Shut it, lizard breath!" she retorted, trying desperately to grab for her staff still clutched in his claws.

"Nu uh!" he chided her, pulling the staff away, "finders keepers. Besides, shouldn't you be more concerned about falling into that ferrous pack of wolves?" He pointed past her shoulder as she turned her neck to look.

Their free fall was soon coming to an abrupt end, and Huntsgirl just realized what danger she was really in. No staff meant no way out. Period.

"Oh shi-" the words barely escaped her lips before Jake caught hold of her hand, pulling her close and thrusting upwards just in time to narrowly dodge the snapping jaws of the agitated canines.

"Phew," Jake sighed, "that was a close one. You're lucky the fine look'n AmDrag has compassion for all creatures, good or evil and- OWW!"

"Filthy beast, let go of me!" she screamed, clawing and biting at his scaly arm.

"Woman! What is your problem!" he shouted, dropping her harshly to the ground, a little harder than he intended.

"You!" she rebuked childishly, " You're the one who made me fall in the first place! Now give me back my staff!"

"What did I just tell you?" he told her, slightly irritated, "You got cobwebs in the pretty head of yours? This staff is mine now, and if you want it back you gotta pry it from my cold, dead hands."

"That can be arranged, dragon boy," she said wickedly, before leaping towards him in a flying side kick. "HAAAIII – YAAAHHH!"

But Jake was too quick for her, side stepping the blow and wrapping his tail around her ankle, tripping her to the ground.

"What's this," he said mockingly, "did that fall scare all your ninja skills away?"

"EERRRAAAHHHHH!" she screamed. Hunstgirl was mad. Huntsgirl was really mad.

"Yo girl, no need to get your panties in a wad. I was just play'n." he joked, dogging another blow.

"I'll say this one more time, dragon," she said, trying to claim herself down, "give me back my staff!"

"Um, let me think about this," Jake said, pretending to be deep in though, "NO."

"You little-"

"In fact," he cut her off, "I think the best solution is for no one to have the staff," he said, raising the weapon above his head and plunging it toward his knee.

"No! Stop!" but her warning was too late, the staff shattered brilliantly against Jake's knee, sending electrified splinters flying.

Huntsgirl looked aghast. "Now–now you've done it dragon! This is all your fault!"

"Quit whining over your broken staff," he waved her off with his hand, "I'm sure the Huntsclan will give you a brand new-" but before he could finish the sentence he was interrupted by an eardrum-shattering scream.

"What the?" he said confused while trying to cover his pointy dragon ears. He glanced over at a now panicked Huntsgirl, whom was desperately trying to piece back together her broken staff. But her efforts were useless, for a light green and blue swirling fog started to escape from the broken ends of her spear. The temperature dropped dangerously fast as dark, threatening clouds rolled over the sky and swallowed the setting sun. Just as soon as it started, the piercing screaming stopped, leaving Jake and Huntsgirl standing in an eerie, cold silence, backlit by what little light was left peaking through the horizon and treacherous clouds.

"What . . . was that . . ?" Jake asked cautiously. The American Dragon started to think he made a grave mistake.

"That," said Huntsgirl sharply, leaning on her knee to stand up, "was quite possibly the stupidest and worst thing you could have done."

"So on a scale of one to ten, how bad is that?" Jake asked, twiddling his fingers together wishing he was anywhere but here.

"Idiot! Don't try to play this off as some silly mistake! You just released one pissed off banshee from my staff!" She pointed angrily toward her broken weapon.

"Wow, wow, hold up!" Jake said, flailing his arms around, "you mean to tell me that the thing that powers your staff is the tortured soul of a night elf spirit?"

"Yes."

"And the Huntsclan knowingly put these unstable magical creatures into their weapons?"

"Yes."

"And if ever released these specters will prey on the innocent and instill fear in the hearts of all walks of life?" If Jake weren't already a red dragon, his face would be brighter than Rudolph's nose at Christmas.

"Yes."

"Gaaahhhh!" Now it was Jake's turn to be livid. "Are you freak'n kidding me?"

"No," she finally said, "but those details are the least of our worries right now. If we don't catch that banshee soon, the entire city will be in danger, including the magical creatures and the Huntsclan."

"Oh, like I really care about the Huntsclan right now," Jake snapped. He looked over at Huntsgirl again, saw the impassive expression in her eyes and sighed. "Looks like we are going to have to work together if we ever want to catch this thing," he conceded.

"Fine," Huntsgirl agreed, "but after we capture this thing it's back to business as usual."

"Fine by me," he was about to say something snarky but was cut off by another ghastly scream that echoed through the air.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," he said, after the chilling shrieks dissipated in the breeze.

Wasting no time, Jake grabbed her hand, hoisting her onto his back and took to the skies.

000

And there you have it folks, chapter one is complete! On to chapter two!


	2. Enemy of my enemy

Author's Note: Horray! Chapter 2 is up, and it's about damn time! And as an extra bonus, this chapter is twice as long. Everybody dance! To clear up any confusion, this fic takes place before Ski Trip, and I had it wrong the first time, banshees are night elf ghosts, not fairy ghosts. Also I am using info on banshees from what I know about Warcraft and the internets. So if I am blatantly bastardizing what a banshee is, whatevers.

Big thanks for everyone who took the time to review! You make my world go round!

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

On with the fic!

000

"Now Jakey, I know you care about your face and all, but nose diving into school cafeteria potatoes and gravy is _not_ the ideal facial."

"Huh, wha?" Jake stirred out of his afternoon stupor and stared at his two friends.

"Dude, you've been like 'whoa' and falling asleep in every class today, what gives bro?" Spud questioned.

"Sorry guys," Jake said, pushing his lunch tray out of the way and resting his head on his folded arm as a makeshift pillow, "I didn't sleep at all last night," he finished with a big yawn.

"Dragon business," they shrugged in unison.

"Mmm," he nodded sleepily.

"You know Jakey," started Trixie, always concerned for her friend's wellbeing, "this whole dragon guardian thang has really put a damper on your social life, your friends," she pointed to Spud and herself, "your grades-"

"And not to mention your love life," said Spud, finishing the sentence but receiving a dirty look from Trixie for doing so. "Er well," he corrected himself, "that is, if you _had_ a love life."

"Thanks Spud, that's _real_ reassuring." Some could say that Jake is the king of sarcastic remarks.

"No problemo bro," responded Spud, completely oblivious to his friend's irritation. "Oh, speaking of love lives, check out Rose," he pointed towards the food line.

"Huh, wha? Where?" Only the slight mention of his crush's name made Jake perk up.

"Dang homie, crush girl is looking just as bushed as you," observed Trixie.

"How could something that fine ever look warn and tattered," he said, questioning Trixie's blatant observation. Trixie simply rolled her eyes.

"Yo Rose!" Jake called out to her, waving a little too enthusiastically. She smiled and weakly waved back, self evident of her exhaustion. Jake grinned like a fool.

"Yo check it," he squealed to his friends, "she totally digs me!" But before he could celebrate any further Brad walked up to Rose and quickly whisked her away to the jock and cheerleader table.

"Awww man," Jake groaned in defeat. If there was anything Spud and Trixie liked less than a zoned-out-tired Jake, it was a love-sick-over-Rose Jake.

Searching for a distraction, Trixie quickly said, "Yo Jakey, you still haven't told us why you stayed up all night."

"Oh," he sighed, resting his chin on his hand, "it was all the Huntsclan's fault."

"What else is new?" Again with the sarcasim.

"I was fighting with that fine look'n ninja Huntsgirl," Jake smirked, "over some stupid Stone of Khufu," he paused, remembering the battle, "long story short, her Huntsclan weapon broke, releasing a soul tormenting Banshee, that we stayed up all night searching for before it terrorizes everyone in New York."

"A Ban-what now?" Both Trixie and Spud looked a little nervous, but more confused than anything.

"A Banshee," Jake explained, "it's the ghost of a female night elf, and most of the time they are harmless, but if they are agitated in any way, like being forced to power a Huntsclan staff," he said that last part rather bitterly, "they will seek vengeance on those who have done them harm."

"Hold up, isn't this good for you?" Trixie had a glint of genius in her eye, "Just have the Banshee waltz into the Hunts-lair and take out all the Huntsclan, then when she is done, take her out!"

Jake half yawned and half sighed. "I wish it were that easy Trix, but every time a Banshee hexes someone, she grows stronger. If I let her take out the Huntsclan first, it would be impossible to take her down afterwards."

"Well, I know!" Spud chimed in, "why don't you wrap yourself in tin foil, so when she tries to curse you the spell will reflect off your shiny body and hit her instead! You could be like, the amazing tin-man . . . dragon."

Jake and Trixi looked at each other awkwardly "Spud! Do you even listen to the words that come out of your mouth?" Trixie chided.

"No. Most of the time I am listening to the pretty, pretty music . . ." Again, Trixie rolled her eyes.

"So Jakey, if this Banshee is still running around terrorizing people, why aren't you chasing after it right now?" She wondered, feeling a little concerned for her safety.

"Because Banshees are only active during the night," Jake answered, "as soon as school is out I'm getting some much deserved shut eye, then at sun down the AmDrag is going to lay some serious smack down on that vengeful night elf phantom!"

"But first, you gotta stay awake in Rotwoods class." Spud said, putting a damper to Jake's newly heightened spirits.

"Ugh, Spud, don't remind me," Jake groaned, "but I get to see Rose in that class!" He smiled slyly. This time both Trixie and Spud rolled their eyes.

O.o

"Mr. Long!" a heavily scarred wooden ruler slapped down dangerously close to Jake's head.

"Huh, say wha?" Jake shot up immediately, causing the class to giggle at his new found demerits.

"Mr. Long, your blasé disinterest for my class and idea that this is your personal nap time has landed you into detention," Mr. Rotwood was not one for humoring the class so-called delinquents.

"But I–"

"No buts Mr. Long! My classroom, after school!"

Jake reluctantly sunk back into his seat. "Awww man," he groaned. Arguing with Rotwood any further would only prolong his detention, which was something he deffantly did not want to do right now.

Wallowing in self pity, Jake slowly slid down in his chair, calculating exactly how many hours he now had of sleep. It didn't help that the sun set so damn early this time of year. "Stupid winter," Jake grumbled to himself. Now he only gets two hours of sleep before the hunt for the banshee begins.

Sensing Jake's frustration, Trixie and Spud did their best to keep Rotwood from noticing Jake nodding off again. The last thing their magical friend needed right now was more detention.

O.o

"Hey Jake!"

"Huh?" Jake turned to see his blond babe crush heading towards his locker. "Rose!" his face lit up faster than one of Fu Dog's failed magic experiments.

"Hey," she said again once she was closer to him, "so about our date this week, a lot of things came up with the family, and well, do you think we can postpone until next week?" She tried to smile sweetly to hide her obvious fatigue, but an insistent yawn was pushing itself through her system.

"Yeah, sure! Actually, that works better for me too,"

"Great! So I'll see you soon," she smiled again, but this time the yawn won out.

"Tired too?" Jake said also yawning, unaware of how contagious those things really are.

She let out a giggle, "Yeah, I stupidly pulled an all nighter last night, and now I am paying for it. Plus, Rotwood caught me snoozing in class and gave me detention. All I want to do is go home and sleep!"

"He got you too?" Jake couldn't believe his luck. Having to serve detention was one thing, but spending detention with Rose was a completely different game. "Man, that guy is such a jerk,"

"Tell me about it," she rolled her eyes. Jake started to wonder if eye rolling was some kind of plague sweeping through his school. "So I guess I'll see you after class then?"

"Yes, most definitely! It's a date, er well, I mean a detention date," Jake was going through some serious mental kicks, "er I mean-"

"It's ok, I know what you mean. I feel your tiredness pain," she smiled again and suddenly Jake didn't feel like such an idiot any more. He watched her leave then slumped onto the lockers, wearing the biggest, dorkiest grin ever.

O.o

"Mr. Long!" Jakes's eyes dared that ruler to slap down again. Tired, cranky and in desperate need of sleep, Jake was in no mood for Rotwood's shenanigans. One more 'Mr Long!' and Jake was ready to dragon up and show Rotwood just why dragons are the most powerful of all the mystic creatures. The only thing making this detention bearable was the fact that he got to sit next to Rose and secretly exchange notes with her on how bad of a hair-don't Rotwood was wearing.

"For each minute I find you sleeping during detention, I will reward you with two more minutes of detention! Understood!"

"Yes Professor Rotwood," both Jake and Rose replied in a monotonous drone. Clearly the only thing on their minds was getting the hell out of school by 4:00pm and sleeping before sundown. Any extra minutes now meant precious minutes of lost sleep, something neither of them were rather fond of parting with.

As soon as Rotwood turned his back, Jake passed Rose a note which read: Check out those lederhosen pant lines.

Rose couldn't help but giggle.

O.o

Two hours of sleep was nice, but certainly not enough. Jake knew he was going to be moody and snarky, and he knew exactly who he was going to take it out on.

"Huntsgirl!" There was nothing but extreme irritation in his tone of voice. He watched her drop from the shadows and straighten up her small, slender frame at the shout of her name.

"You don't have to shout, dragon boy, I'm right here," her conduct was equally irate.

"Ooo, sounds like someone got up on the wrong side of the hunts-bed this morning," Yeah, Huntsgirl was soooo on Jake's F-list at the moment.

"For your information dragon, I barely got any sleep at all." No one got underneath Huntsgirl's skin without paying the price.

"Well I guess you and I are in the same boat then," Wait, was the AmDrag actually taking pity on her?

"Whatever dragon. As I recall, you were the one who got us into this mess in the first place,"

"Me? You and your stupid Huntsclan where the ones who decided that putting Banshees inside your weapons of choise was like the greatest idea ever! Don't you go blaming this on me!" he yelled at her.

"Bee zui! Enough!" Finally, a voice of reason stepped in to break up the word war. "We are not here to pick at each others faults, we are here to capture that banshee before it destroys all of New York. Young Dragon, you and I will survey Central Park from the sky, while Fu Dog will continue working on his potion to contact the Night Elf High Counsel."

"And what about me?" asked Huntsgirl, far too impatient than necessary.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Lao Shi said boldly, "We will need all the help we can get. You will assist us by surveying the ground. We will stay in contact via these handless two-way radios," Lao Shi proceeded to hand out wireless ear pieces to each member of the group. Huntsgirl distastefully batted hers to the ground.

"No," she said defiantly, "we should be searching through the cities and more populated areas where the Banshee is more likely to attack a Huntsclan member."

Grandpa calmly proved her wrong, "I'm sorry young ninja. The Banshee will stick to the shadows and feed on the small and weak magical creatures until she has enough strength to take on humans."

"Fine, me and a few associates will survey the ground," she tilted her new spear towards Grandpa's throat, "but once we capture and eliminate the threat, you will be my enemy again."

"Yo chill girl, no one threatens my gramps like that," he said, stepping between his grandpa and a very irate Huntsgirl, "I see the clan trusted you with a new weapon," he said snidely.

"Only because I wasn't the one who broke the first one," she retorted.

"Please, you're the one who lost it in the first place," he fired back.

"Only after you took it from me!"

"I only took what was freely offered!"

"Well maybe you should be more weary of what you take and break!"

"Well maybe you should take better care of your stuff!"

"Enough!" Grandpa finally interrupted, though Jake was pleased that he got in the last word, " We are wasting precious time with this petty arguing! Stay in radio contact! Disperse!"

In a puff of smoke they were gone.

O.o

"Oooo baby, I want to uh uh, love you forever!" Jake bellowed horribly off key into his microphone. Huntsgirl tried desperately not to kill something.

"Dragon! Would you shut it with the awful hip-hop singing!" She clutched her staff tighter. It seemed as though his singing got louder, if that was even possible. Slim Dingy and his "Love You Forever" song was currently all the rage at school, and every idiot and his mom was singing the song in the halls while performing manic pelvic thrusts to the "uh uh" portion of the lyrics. Huntsgirl tried to block the pictures from her head, not wanting to imagine a familiar red dragon acting out those movements.

"Shut up!" she screamed again, wishing she could stick her arm though the radio and strangle him.

"I'm just testing the equipment," he replied rather smartly.

"And you are annoying everyone else on the head sets!" she snapped.

"Nope, two way radios. It's just me and you baby," Jake was quite pleased with himself.

"Fine, I'm changing the channel!" There was a pause followed by a swear. "How do you do it on these things?"

Jake chuckled, "What, the big bad Huntsgirl can't figure out a widdle technological object- owww!" Jake reached for his now scratched elbow. "Did you just shoot me?"

"No," Huntsgirl replied, in a not-so-innocent voice.

"Girl, what is your issue? I mean seriously- OWWW!" Jake reached for his now _bleeding_ elbow. "STOP SHOOTING A ME!" He was less than humored at the moment.

"That wasn't me this time," she replied back.

"Oh, like I'm gonna believe yo-" Jake stopped mid flight. "-ou. Oh . . . snap."

"What? What is it dragon?" Huntsgirl's voice blended into the headset static.

Jake simply gasped at the sight before him. It wasn't until Lao Shi's voice stung him through the radio that he was able snap out of his current stage of shock. "Jake! Be on the look out, there were some cursed sprites bubbling around not to far from your location."

Once Jake realized his jaw still moved he replied with, "Thanks for the heads-up G, but I think I just found her."

Before him was the glowing silhouette of the hexing specter. Her silky hair flowed methodically in the breeze, outlining her moonlit pale, porcelain face. Her iridescent robes spun of gold and unicorn hair hung off her slender frame as she slowly floated closer to Jake. In her hand was the beginnings of a small energy ball, maturing for launch, and possibly to skin his other elbow. Thinking fast Jake dowsed her with his fire breath, only to see her fleeing towards the ground after the flames dissipated. Except, she wasn't just fleeing towards the ground, her charged curse was aimed directly at Huntsgirl.

"Huntsgirl!" Jake shouted into the radio, "Banshee! 2'oclock!"

Huntsgirl dodged just in time to avoid the blast, but her fellow ninja were not so lucky. The banshee was fast, really fast. Jake wondered, as he swooped towards Huntsgirl's location, how she was able to make it to the ground four times fast than himself. It is a well known fact that dragons are amongst the fastest flyers in the magical animal kingdom.

"Behind you!" Jake shouted again from his vantage up top. Huntsgirl turned to see the Banshee rushing towards her, but this time was unsuccessful in dodging the blow. Jake watched as the Banshee slammed into Huntsgirl, knocking her off balance, causing her to ungracefully fall into the nearby water fountain. What Jake didn't see was Huntsgirl brutally smacking her head into one of the stylized concrete slabs of the fountain.

"Yo Banshee!" Jake taunted, "if you want a real fight, I'm all yours baby!" Not wanting to feel the fiery heat of dragon breath again, the Banshee fled immediately upon seeing the American Dragon. Seconds later Grandpa appeared at Jake's side.

"She got away gramps," Jake panted, still coming off the high of battle.

"It is OK young one. The banshee is not yet strong enough to damage humans. She has only gathered strength from a few magical creatures in the park, and by the way in which you scared her, she will not be terrorizing anyone else tonight."

"So that means, sleep?" Jake could not have been any more excited about going to bed in his life.

"Yes young one, let Huntsgirl know we are finished for tonight," said Lao Shi.

"Yo Hunts-tard! Time to go home. Ghost freak has gone into hiding and won't be back till tomorrow night. Hey, I'm talking to you!" Jake was starting to get a little impatient. He reached to pull her soaking wet frame from the fountain.

"Hurry up Jake!" yelled Grandpa, "what is the problem?" Jake laid her limp body onto the pavement and tried poking her awake.

There was just one problem. Huntsgirl was not getting up.

000

End chapter 2. Next update: maybe soonish.


	3. Kiss of Life

Disclaimer: I do not own AD:JL, this is for fan enjoyment only.

Wow, an update? You must be joking. Why on earth would dx/dt take the time to update this long since abandoned tale that takes place during season one and no one cares to read about because season two is just sooo much better? Ah, the mysteries of life. Well, believe it or not, chapter three is finally up and long over due. I wanna send a shout out to my lovely beta Techman who suffered through all my "I'm almost done with the chapter" and went through to fix all the booboos once I finally sent this bad boy over to him. He just posted a new story titled "Live Bait," and after finishing this chapter you should all go over and read it and leave him tons of reviews. XD

000

"Uh, G?" Jake called out into the darkness, "Huntsgirl is not getting up," that was when he noticed a small puddle of blood near her head, "and she's bleeding!" Jake screamed, his voice filled with urgency.

Grandpa was immediately at Jake's side, inspecting the wound on Huntsgirl's head. His brow furrowed in worry. "She is not breathing either."

"What? Is- is she dead?" Jake started to wonder when all of this suddenly became ten times more serious. Lao Shi moved in to check her pulse.

"No," he said dryly, detecting a weak pulse, "but she will be if you don't breathe breath back into her."

"You mean mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?" Jake asked. Sure, he had learned how to perform that and CPR in the classroom, but using such a thing in the field was not something he wanted to experience. Grandpa simply nodded.

"Hurry, Young One. Enemy or not, a life is still a life. Dragons do not discriminate between friends or foes when it comes to saving lives." Jake weakly nodded and turned towards his unconscious opponent.

"OK Jake," he thought to himself, "lift back the chin, pinch the nose, and breathe, 1, 2, 3." He repeated the processes several times, almost loosing hope; when suddenly Huntsgirl started to cough.

"Oh yeah!" he shouted in celebration, "No one dies on the AmDrag's watch, uh huh! Who's the dragon? I'm the dragon!" That was when Huntsgirl promptly rolled over and threw up.

"Awww, gross!" If anything, Jake was more surprised then grossed out.

"Yeah kid, that's the part they don't show you in the movies,"

"Fu Dog!" Except it wasn't; it was merely a shimmering projection of a loyal 600 year old shar pei.

"Yo Gramps, what's the hold up? I finally got through to the Night Elf High Counsel, but they refuse to speak to a 'mangy old mutt.' Hurry up, will ya?" Fu Dog said, slightly annoyed.

"Apologies Fu Dog, we ran into a situation. Please whip up a fresh batch of Phoenix Tears Elixir, and bring it to Jake's location immediately," instructed Grandpa.

"Can do! Oh, and what do you want me to say to the 'Haughty-Taughty' Counsel?"

"Tell them I will be with them shortly," After Fu Dog's projection disappeared, Gramps turned back to the still unconscious Huntsgirl. Absent mindedly Jake pulled her face mask back down over her mouth to keep her warm.

"Fear not Jake, injures to the head always look worse than they actually are. I will have Fu Dog bring a potion that will heal the wound, but in the meantime you must put pressure on it to keep her from loosing any more blood," Grandpa stated calmly.

"Right, pressure." Jake tore off a piece of her uniform and placed it on the cut while pressing down with his massive claws. Lao Shi noticed the worried expression across Jake's face.

"Do not worry young one, she will not die. Fu Dog will be here soon." After seeing the creases on Jake's face relax the magnificent Chinese dragon took to the skies.

Jake sighed. There were too many things going through his mind at the moment. He replayed the battle with the banshee over and over in his head. Something was off about the whole situation, but he couldn't quite place a finger on it. If the banshee was currently weak and sticking close to the shadows, then why did she appear high in the skies to attack him? Furthermore, why did she bother attacking Huntsgirl if she was currently too weak to hex humans? It simply did not add up. A small moan escaped Huntsgirl's lips, immediately snapping Jake back to reality.

"Hey," he said softly, trying not to jostle her body. "Can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?" Her only response was another moan, as she tried to curl up into a ball to keep warm. Sensing her shivers, Jake made a fire with a quick breath and brought his body closer to hers, using his wings as a make shift blanket. He tried poking her awake so she would answer his question, but her eyes never fully focused on him. The only reply he received was another grunt, possibly a protest to the pain.

Deciding he wasn't going to get much more of a response out of Huntsgirl, Jake let his thoughts wander again. Suddenly it occurred to him that standing out in the open with an unconscious Huntsclan member left him vulnerable to attack. He was a giant target panted red for all the world to see, his only defense were the wispy clouds that meandered across the moon, cloaking him in backlit darkness. "Great," he thought, "Fu Dog and Gramps are gone and I'm the chump who's out here like a sitting duck. Hurry up, Fu Dog, hurry up!" He let out a ragged sigh, evident of his paranoia and fatigue. He heard a faint rustling in the bushes and held his breath, listening intently for any signs of who or what the sounds were coming from.

Jake stiffened as his rhythmic pulse pounded against his eardrums. A half man sized figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Fu!" Jake exhaled, unaware that he was holding his breath for so long. "Am I glad to see you! For a second there I thought you were an entire legion of Huntsclan ready to rain down on me," Jake smiled awkwardly, before realizing what a squeamish little child he was behaving like and quickly decided to snap out of it.

"So do you have the potion," he coughed, deepening his voice.

"Yeah kid. The good news is, your little sweetheart is going to be alright-"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Jake rudely interrupted.

"Wow, down dragon, I didn't say anything about her being your girlfriend . . ." Jake shot him a glance. If only looks could kill.

"As I was saying, the good news is that she will be ok. This potion here," he held up a small flask filled to the brim with a fiery gold, bubbling elixir, "will heal her wound. This one," he presented a small translucent tin containing a neatly folded handkerchief soaked in a glowing green liquid, "will restore her consciousness and heal any concussions she may or may not have. Be careful with this one, it smells like a giant's toe-jam mashed with toad liver oil."

"Nasty." Jake shook his head in disgust.

"No kidding kid." Fu uncorked the flask and let the fizzling liquid gush over onto Huntsgirl's midsection.

"Why are you doing that Fu? Shouldn't you be applying the medicine directly to her wound?" Jake questioned Fu Dog's methods.

"Just wait." Jake watched on in wonder as the veins in her body started to glow, illuminating all the cuts and bruises on her skin. Some were from this battle, others were from previous skirmishes. At that moment, Jake started to realize that regardless of her strength, skills and borrowed magic, Huntsgirl was human. She bleeds like a human, feels pain like a human, and is fragile just like any other human whom Jake interacts with. However, regardless her weaknesses, Jake started to realize just how hard Huntsgirl trains to win despite all the odds against her.

In a blink of an eye the wounds evaporated into the darkness. Stuck deep in thought, Jake barely heard Fu Dog's explanation on how the amazing potion worked. "The bad new is, now her entire body is completely healed. The potion treats all wounds on humans that were inflicted by magical creatures."

"Then why did you use this potion?" Jake questioned.

"It's the only potion that fully heals wounds on humans," Fu Dog explained, "In a case like this, the wound looked pretty serious, and I didn't want to take any chances, even if she is the enemy."

Somewhat satisfied with Fu Dog's explanation, Jake chose not to question the talking canine any further on the matter.

"So what do we do with her now? As much as I'd like to, we can't leave her here." Jake sat down on the edge of the water fountain, his tail twitching expectantly.

"That's what this little number is for," Fu Dog said while presenting the tin. "The Phoenix Tears Elixir is a two part potion. The first part heals all the wounds, like what I did just now. The second part wipes away any memory of magical creature association. But we don't want to do that to Huntsgirl because she knows all about us and her information is valuable to finding the banshee. So I brought along the Essence of Putrid. This will wake her up from the deep sleep that the Phoenix Tears put her in. The only side effect is that she will be very groggy for at least 24 hours."

"Great, no help from her tomorrow," Jake pouted while crossing his arms.

"Well, better than her being dead," Fu Dog reminded him. "Anyway kid, we best leave her here for the Hunts clan to pick up without them blaming us for the attack."

"Wait a minute Fu. What if someone else finds her first, or worse, the banshee comes back? We can't just leave her out in the open like this." For once Jake was pushing past his lack of sleep, crankiness, and hatred for the Hunts clan and showing general compassion for the now helpless teenage ninja. Fu Dog simply sighed.

"Yeah, you're right kid, but taking her back to the Huntsclan ain't gonna be easy."

Jake scratched his chin in concentration. "I got it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, "I'll take her and fly over central park and the city skyline. The Huntsclan will be sure to spot me, and when they do, they will signal for me to meet them somewhere."

"I hope you know what you are doing kid," Fu Dog said, the need for reassurance clear on his face.

"The AmDrag always knows what he his doing." A smile as bright as day flashed across Jake's face as he scooped up the fragile Huntsgirl into his arms and leapt above the treetops.

He circled over Central Park a few times, only drawing attention from joyous gnomes and a few pixies that had been out partying way past their bed times. Deciding he wasn't going to receive a response from the Huntsclan by flying over the luscious green, Jake migrated over to the dazzling lights of civilization.

Feeling nearly weightless, Huntsgirl struggled to open her eyes. She felt a cold breeze whistle past her, making her shiver and wanting to snuggle closer to the warm body that seemed so close, yet so far away. A tiny moan slipped through her lips as she tried to wriggle closer to the source of heat. Through her convoluted thought process she swore it felt as though Jake was holding her close, holding her safe, but why him? Jake had nothing to do with the magical community; he was simply a boy from school that she was harboring a small crush on. Perhaps that was where the thoughts where coming from, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the person holding her was someone familiar. The intriguing thoughts evaporated away as she calmly fell back asleep.

A small spear whizzed past Jake's face, too close to be considered accidental. After pinpointing the location of the attacker, Jake descended quickly and landed on one of the many dimly lit New York skyscrapers.

"What did you do to her?" It wasn't a question.

"Nothing," Jake retorted, "the Banshee did this to her, the one that you so cleverly placed inside her staff." Jake dared not move his stare off the glowing red eyes of the Huntsclan leader. With a simple flick of his tail he tossed over the translucent tin to one of the vigilant ninjas. "Dab it under her nose," he instructed them, "it will pull her out of unconsciousness, but it will leave her groggy and unable to move much for the next 24 hours."

"Hurry up then," Huntsmaster commanded, his iniquitous voice tearing at Jake's sensitive dragon ears.

Jake moved to put her down but hesitated. For some reason he felt irresponsible for handing back this weak, defenseless girl to the menacing power of the Huntsclan. Pushing those strange thoughts to the back of his brain he sucked in a quick breath and gently laid her limp body on the ground, all the while charged spears were steadily aimed at his head. He stood up, glaring at his adversaries and wondering if they were stupid enough to actually try and capture him at this moment.

"This is far from over, dragon," Huntsmaster seethed as he withdrew his weapon. Contrary to his character, Jake said nothing. He merely nodded in reply and dropped of the towering edge, his only concern focused on Huntsgirl's safety.

000

Now go read "Live Bait" and make merrily with the reviews.


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